Let the fun begin!

As my husband starts his new job today, i start taking the bus to work…… and unlike my first trip this summer, I was feeling quite confident this morning. As always, though, I’ve learned a few things so I don’t look so “out-of-place” on my morning and evening commute……. here they are:

1. don’t take a hot tea…… 20 minutes into the bus ride, it’s cold and all you can do is hold it the other 40 minutes because you don’t want to drink it (ew!) and you can’t ask the driver to pull over so you can poor it out. It becomes cumbersome to say the least.

2. if it looks like you might miss your transfer, wave frantically at the driver of the bus as you stand across the road and wait for the light to change. This makes the driver wait and it also amuses the other riders that are waiting to cross the road. Making people smile in the morning is good 🙂

3. don’t stand too close to the edge of the road when waving at the bus driver and trying to amuse the other riders. A black suburban got a bit too close to me for comfort until i realized i was probably a bit too far out in the road waving the driver to wait.

4. if the bus seat says, “Strollers and wheelchairs first”, obey the sign. I had to move and ended up sitting next to a gentleman that smelled like a 4 day old shirt in August…….. pick your seat carefully……. especially when you have a 40 minute ride. You don’t know where your seat partner might get off or what he might smell like.

I did do a few things right: 1. i made sure my bag wasn’t too full. I pulled everything out that wasn’t necessary….. a lighter bag is easier to carry and put on your lap when you’re being squished like a sardine. 2. I kept my cool as clausterphobia drew near when 50 people got on the one stop and 5o on the next stop and the sardine syndrome struck (see #1). 3. i listened to my bus-knowing son and pulled the bell AFTER the 2nd stop on Adelaide which allowed me to just skip across the road to work instead of having to walk a mile and be later than i was.

so, all-in-all, my trip was a good one. I was pretty proud of myself and even though i was 5 minutes late for work, I felt pretty good about my timing. I don’t set the bus schedules and followed them to the letter……… too bad my boss was too upset at my 5 minute deliquency to congratulate me on my accomplishments……… Oh, well, maybe tomorrow…..